DUCKLINGTON

DUCKLINGTON lies on the west bank of the river
Windrush immediately south of Witney and 5
miles north-east of Bampton. (fn. 1) It was a predominantly rural parish until the later 20th century
when, as Witney spread southwards, Ducklington village acquired suburban features. In
1876 the ancient parish, which included Hardwick township, comprised 2,261 a. of which
1,941 a. lay in Ducklington township and 671 a.
in Hardwick. (fn. 2) After transfers to and from the
parish in 1886 under the Divided Parishes Acts
Ducklington was reduced to 1,934 a. and Hardwick, by then a civil parish, to 442 a., the
principal change being the transfer from Hardwick to Standlake of a large detached portion
(241 a.) lying between Yelford and Cokethorpe
Park. (fn. 3) In 1932 Ducklington was enlarged to
3,075 a. by the addition of most of Cogges (1,082
a.) and parts of Curbridge and Shilton; at the
same time Ducklington lost 39 a. on the north
to Witney and 202 a. on the south to the newly
created parish of Hardwick-with-Yelford. The
latter comprised 1,624 a., made up of most of
the former Hardwick parish (440 a.), the whole
of Yelford (336 a.), and 848 a. of Ducklington
and Standlake, including the whole of
Cokethorpe Park. (fn. 4) In 1967 Ducklington was
reduced to 1,940 a. (785 ha.) by the transfer of
459 ha. east of the river Windrush to South
Leigh. In 1985 a minor boundary change on the
north enlarged Ducklington to 791 ha. Hardwick-with-Yelford remained unchanged at 657
ha. (fn. 5) This article treats the history of the ancient
parish, and also of that part of Cokethorpe which
until 1932 belonged to Standlake.

The 19th-century boundaries of Ducklington
parish (excluding Hardwick) were largely those
of an estate granted in 958 by King Edgar to his
'minister' Earnulf from land which belonged
earlier to the large royal estate centred on Bampton. The grant was of 14 hides at Ducklington,
together with the 'old church at East Lea' and
its 40 a., and also Byrnan lea, presumably the
site of the later Barley Park. (fn. 6) The east boundary
of the estate, as of the 19th-century parish,
followed the river Windrush southwards from
Ducklington village, (fn. 7) its deviation from one
branch of the river to another presumably
reflecting the apportionment of valuable river
meadows between various estates. On Standlake
brook ¾ mile east of Hardwick the boundary
reached another branch of the Windrush, since
dried up, (fn. 8) where it turned sharply upstream
towards and probably past Hardwick. At an 'old
ford' the estate boundary left the Windrush to
follow a stream one furlong south of a church.
The stream was presumably the small watercourse on the boundary of Cokethorpe Park just
south of Cokethorpe chapel, which was evidently
the 'old church of East Lea'. The surviving
channelled watercourse may earlier have meandered along the edge of the gravel terrace to the
north end of Berryham plantation where a ford,
the site of a Romano-British causeway, (fn. 9) may
have been the 'old ford' of 958.

Beyond Cokethorpe chapel the Anglo-Saxon
boundary continued along the stream, then uphill through a haga (? game enclosure) to a burh
(? camp) ditch. The last was probably on the
south-western edge of Home wood, where a notably straight perimeter ditch respects a rectangular
moated earthwork of unknown date; (fn. 10) even if the
earthwork postdates the charter the perimeter
ditch itself may mark the site of the burh ditch,
since there was much early settlement in the
fields immediately adjacent. (fn. 11) The haga was
probably a wooded enclosure, perhaps a royal
park: although divided by the boundary of 958
it seems to have retained or recovered its integrity,
since later a large area west of Cokethorpe
chapel, including woodland north of the boundary of 958, and assarted woodland (the Breaches)
south of that boundary, became part of
Standlake manor and parish. (fn. 12) The transfer of
its northern part from the Ducklington estate
presumably occurred before parish boundaries were
firmly established, perhaps before 1066.

The Saxon estate boundary seems to have continued along the south-western edge of Home wood
and the southern edge of Boys wood. The 'old rode'
of 958 may have been where the perimeter ditch of
Home wood turns sharply westwards, 'Scot's hollow' the declivity occupied by the Long Train, and
'Wenburh's bridge' where the stream on the edge
of Boys wood turns south to Yelford. From the
south-west corner of Boys wood the boundaries of
Saxon estate and later parish once more coincided,
running south-westwards past Claywell down a
ditch which in 958 led to the boundary of the 'men
of Aston'. The zig-zag parish boundary north-west
of its junction with Aston near Claywell farm
survives from the estate boundary of 958, which in
that section evidently picked its way round arable
strips before reaching 'the brook of Aegel's spring',
now Elm Bank ditch on Ducklington's west boundary. The west and north boundaries of the Saxon
estate and later parish followed Elm Bank ditch to
a 'stone ford', identified west of Coursehill Farm
where Ducklington's boundary meets those of Lew
and Curbridge; (fn. 13) the 'fugel' (bird) slade was probably the narrow valley where the parish boundary
turns sharply north-east, passing to Colwell brook,
so named in 958, which formed the parish boundary
as far as Emma's bridge in the north-east. (fn. 14) Thence
the estate and parish boundaries followed a watercourse (hastinges lace), which was evidently
straightened in later times, (fn. 15) to rejoin the Windrush near Ducklington village.

After the removal from Ducklington of the
suggested early park the southern parish boundary
with Standlake followed the north-west edge of
Boys wood. Its medieval line south-eastwards
through the later Cokethorpe Park is uncertain:
assarted closes mostly on the west side of the park,
including the site of Cokethorpe House, were in
Standlake, but the chapel and much of the east
side of the later park remained in Ducklington. (fn. 16)
Because Cokethorpe chapel served Hardwick that
township also became part of Ducklington, despite
prolonged insistence by Bampton parish on certain
parochial rights. (fn. 17)

Figure 12:

Ducklington c. 1838

The boundaries within Cokethorpe Park were
simplified at or before the inclosure of Ducklington in 1839 when a straight line running north

from Cokethorpe House became the boundary
between Standlake on the west and Ducklington,
and a straight line running east from the house
and north of the chapel divided Ducklington
from Hardwick. (fn. 18) Hardwick's boundaries elsewhere were largely undefined until inclosure,
since its fields were intermixed with those of
Standlake and came to include some of Yelford's
open fields. (fn. 19) Certainly the township was
bounded on the east by the Windrush and on
part of the west by the inclosed Breaches, and
included Hardwick field, and Hardwick common
where the inhabitants had their principal holdings. (fn. 20) When Hardwick was inclosed and its
tithes apportioned in 1852-3 its boundaries were
redefined to include c. 425 a. around the village
and a large detached area near Yelford. (fn. 21) Those
boundaries were mostly obliterated after the
changes of 1886 and the creation of Hardwickwith-Yelford parish in 1932. (fn. 22)

In the peripheral river valleys the land is
low-lying (c. 75 m.) but a ridge of higher ground
extends from Coursehill Farm in the north-west
to Cokethorpe Park in the south-east, its highest
point being 96 m. near the centre of the parish.
Alluvium overlies flood plain gravel in the river
valleys, and gravel extends westwards from the
river Windrush beneath the villages of Ducklington and Hardwick, into Cokethorpe Park,
including the sites of chapel and house, and,
further south, across much of the former Hardwick field towards the Breaches. There are
islands of deposited gravel on higher ground,
notably around Barley Park Farm and Home
Farm, Cokethorpe. The rest of the parish lies on
Oxford Clay. (fn. 23)

Several Anglo-Saxon settlement names within
the later parish incorporate lea(h), (fn. 24) their location suggesting that much of the higher ground
was wooded. Large stretches of woodland
survive, (fn. 25) partly perhaps because of medieval
and later imparkment. Barley Park in the northwest of the parish was created or enlarged in the
mid 13th century, and was an enclosed deer park
of some 375 a. in the 16th century and possibly
later. (fn. 26) The creation of Cokethorpe Park (c. 310
a.) in the 18th century increased the wooded
area, although its principal woodland lay in
Standlake parish. (fn. 27) Before the inclosure of
Ducklington's open fields in 1839 the alluvium
in the valleys was largely reserved for meadow
and pasture, the arable fields stretching westwards from the village to Barley Park and
southwards between the park and Boys wood to
Claywell. (fn. 28)

The principal road through the parish was the
north-south route from Witney through the
village, past Hardwick, to Standlake and a crossing of the river Thames at Newbridge: it formed
part of the London-Gloucester road. (fn. 29) A bypass
west of Ducklington village was built in 1974-5.
A road from Hardwick across Hardwick common
to Standlake was laid out at the inclosure of
Standlake in 1853; (fn. 30) its heavy usage for gravel
transport led to the provision of a bypass south
of Hardwick in 1974-5. Minor roads (fn. 31) linking
Ducklington to Curbridge and Aston were
altered and confirmed at the inclosure of Ducklington in 1839. The Aston road earlier followed
a more easterly line down the valley to Claywell.
The lane from Hardwick to Yelford was
realigned further south at the inclosure of
Standlake. Before 1839 a road called Broadway
branching from the Ducklington-Standlake
road west of Ducklington mill ran north-westwards to the junction of the Curbridge road and
the track to Coursehill Farm. That track probably survives from an early road, in part called
Greenway, running from the 'stone ford' of 958
on Ducklington's west boundary past Coursehill
Farm, near the site of a deserted medieval
settlement, Eggesley. (fn. 32) Another east-west route,
confirmed in part as Lew footway in 1839, ran
westward past Barley Park Farm to Lew. Further south a probably more substantial road
known as Lew way, confirmed in part in 1839,
crossed from Lew into Ducklington south-west
of Barley Park wood, following the ancient park
pale north-eastwards; from it there may have
been a branch eastwards to meet the former
Claywell-Ducklington road on the high ground
north of Boys wood, whence a lane, partly
surviving, crossed the open fields to Ducklington
mill. That suggested route may have been the
'highway' running eastwards from 'Barley ditch'
across Ducklington to the Windrush which was
alleged in 1318 to be Bampton's north-east
boundary: although the road was probably never
an ancient boundary it conveniently divided
Ducklington from Cokethorpe and Hardwick,
over which Bampton church had stronger
claims. (fn. 33)

In the mid 19th century there was a regular
carrying service to Witney, Oxford, and Abingdon. (fn. 34) The nearest railway station was at
Faringdon (Berks.) from 1840, until Witney and
South Leigh stations were opened in 1861. (fn. 35)
Ducklington had a short-lived post office in
1861; another was opened in 1888, attached at
first to a grocer's shop in the house later Church
Farm, and by the early 20th century established
in the Square. (fn. 36)

There are indications of Bronze Age occupation west of Ducklington village and south of
Cokethorpe Park. (fn. 37) South-east of Hardwick was
a small middle Iron-Age settlement, protected
by a circular double ditch; it was largely pastoral
and perhaps occupied only seasonally. (fn. 38) A small
late Iron-Age settlement was found on the line
of Hardwick's bypass, (fn. 39) and there are cropmark
indications of other probable prehistoric
sites, notably just west of Ducklington, north of
Boys wood, and west of Hardwick. (fn. 40) A RomanoBritish settlement including slated and tiled
structures was found on the line of the bypass
south-west of Ducklington; it was occupied
between the 2nd and 4th centuries. (fn. 41) Of similar
date was an apparently linear settlement beside
a Roman or Romanized road which, partly on a
wooden causeway, crossed branches of the river
Windrush between Gill Mill (now in South
Leigh) and Berryham plantation north-west of
Hardwick. (fn. 42) The settlement straddled the later
parish boundary, extending on both sides of
Standlake brook. Votive reliefs found on and
near the site may indicate a temple. (fn. 43) South-west
of the Windrush crossing the Roman road presumably passed close to Cokethorpe chapel. (fn. 44)

Two graves, probably 7th-century, one clearly
Christian with notably rich goods, were found
in 1860 in Wormwood close, north of Church
Street in Ducklington. (fn. 45) The graves were
probably in a large burial ground, since many
skeletons were reportedly found in a garden on
the east, now attached to Windrush Cottage. (fn. 46)
Isolated 7th-century graves with rich goods were
found south-east of Ducklington near Red
Lodge, (fn. 47) and on the south-east boundary of
Cokethorpe Park. (fn. 48) The Ducklington finds, together with those in a large burial ground just
outside the later parish boundary towards
Yelford, (fn. 49) suggest substantial, and fairly prosperous, Anglo-Saxon presence in the area by the
7th century.

By then Ducklington (? Ducel's tun) (fn. 50) may
have been settled, and in 958 was evidently a
nucleated village, possibly with a church. (fn. 51) The
large estate centred on Ducklington contained
several other settlements and a very early
church. The 'old church of East Lea', though
standing in or near the probably minor Saxon
settlement of Cokethorpe (? Cocca's throp), (fn. 52)
continued to be regarded as the church of East
Lea rather than of Cokethorpe until the early
13th century. (fn. 53) East Lea may not have been a
single settlement but a larger area, perhaps so
named because it was a clearing on the east of
the belt of woodland which partly survives as
Home and Boys woods; in the early 13th century
woodland there, belonging to Standlake manor,
was referred to as the 'wood of East Lea'. (fn. 54)
Cokethorpe chapel's antiquity and its location in
a small hamlet suggest that its origins may have
been associated with the conversion of a pagan
area rather than the service of an established
Christian community; the chapel's proximity to
a reputed holy well, its location on or near a
Roman or earlier road, and its probable original
dedication to St. Michael support the possibility
that it replaced an existing shrine. (fn. 55)

Other Anglo-Saxon settlements within the
ancient parish seem to have been associated with
woodland clearance. Eggesley in the north-west
and Putlesley or Puttesley probably near the
centre of the parish were small hamlets in the
early Middle Ages, their names perhaps combining personal names with lea. (fn. 56) There may also
have been early settlement at Byrnan lea (?
Beorna's lea, later Barley) in the west, mentioned
in 958. (fn. 57) Claywell was a hamlet in the south-west
of the parish, surviving as Claywell Farm. (fn. 58) In
1086 it was Welde and later Weald, denoting
woodland or cleared woodland, and was frequently East Weald in distinction to Weald in
Bampton; (fn. 59) the form Clayweld, in use by the
15th century, (fn. 60) corrupted to Claywell. Hardwick
in the south-east of the parish was not part of
the Ducklington estate of 958. (fn. 61) Its name (heordewic), combining 'herd' with an element usually
denoting a small farm, (fn. 62) suggests that it was in
origin a subsidiary pastoral settlement, perhaps
of Brighthampton (in Standlake) with which it
was later linked tenurially. (fn. 63)

In 1086 there were c. 50 recorded tenants on
the manors of Ducklington, Claywell, and Hardwick (fn. 64) and in 1279 over 75 named tenants on
those manors, not necessarily all resident. (fn. 65) In
1306 there were 66 taxpayers in Ducklington and
its hamlets, and in 1327 a similar number (57 in
Ducklington and Claywell, probably fewer than
20 in Hardwick). (fn. 66) After mid 14th-century
plagues the population may have been greatly
reduced: in 1377 only 103 persons over 14 were
assessed for poll tax, a figure which probably
excluded Hardwick, (fn. 67) and in the later Middle
Ages several minor settlements were deserted.
In 1523-4 only 11 in Ducklington and 5 in
Hardwick paid subsidy, and the highest numbers assessed for 16th-century subsidies were 20
and 8 respectively in 1542-4; (fn. 68) a few other
Ducklington parishioners continued to live in
Cokethorpe, discussed below.

From the later 16th century baptisms consistently outnumbered burials, a rise in the period
1600-40 from roughly 9 baptisms and 4 burials
a year to 13 and 7 respectively indicating rapid
population growth. (fn. 69) In 1641 the Protestation
oath was sworn by 150 men and women in
Ducklington, 73 in Hardwick. (fn. 70) The 51 houses
assessed for hearth tax in Ducklington in 1662
included one in Claywell and some in
Cokethorpe, while in Hardwick fewer than a
dozen houses and 25 hearths were assessed. (fn. 71) In
the 1690s, the 1730s, and the 1790s there were
roughly 13 baptisms and 9 burials a year, and in
1801 there were 101 families in 82 houses, and
the population was 442, including 121 in Hardwick. (fn. 72) Numbers increased steadily to a peak in
1871 of 629 (including 149 in Hardwick), falling
to 540 in 1891 and 486 (97 in Hardwick) in
1931. (fn. 73) Thereafter the population of the newly
created Hardwick-with-Yelford was fairly stable, falling to 85 in 1961 and rising to 112 in
1991. (fn. 74) Ducklington's population of 549 in 1951
and 740 in 1961 included the villages of Cogges
and South Leigh. The transformation of Ducklington village into a dormitory suburb, chiefly
from the 1960s, was evident in 1971 when, with
reduced boundaries comparable to those of 1931,
the parish had a population of 1,274 in 405
households, a rise from 104 households in 1931.
Growth slowed thereafter, and in 1991 the population was 1,437. (fn. 75)

At Eggesley in 1279 there were 9 tenants of
Ducklington manor, each with a house and half
yardland. (fn. 76) Some are identifiable among Ducklington taxpayers in the early 14th century, (fn. 77) but
no later reference to the hamlet is known. Its
probable site was between Coursehill Farm and
Moulden's wood (called Edgeley coppice in the
17th century and later), (fn. 78) where two adjacent
fields, one called Edgerley ground in 1839, (fn. 79)
retain signs of house platforms and have yielded
early medieval pottery. (fn. 80) At least one ancient
road seems to have served the settlement. (fn. 81)
There may have been a related but distinct
settlement at Coursehill: men 'of Coursehill'
were recorded c. 1200 and in the early 14th
century, (fn. 82) and a holding there belonged to Eynsham abbey in 1335. (fn. 83) By the later 15th century
the same holding, evidently deserted, was 'a
meadow below Ducklington'. (fn. 84)

At Putlesley in 1279 there were 3 tenants of
Ducklington manor, and Eynsham abbey held a
yardland there in demesne. (fn. 85) Tenants may be
identified among early 14th-century Ducklington taxpayers, and a decayed holding once
Robert Puttesley's was mentioned in 1430. (fn. 86) The
hamlet's name may have been preserved in
Pitchless hill, applied in the early 19th century
to the high ground north-west of Boys wood; (fn. 87)
a possible settlement site there has been suggested, on the gravel immediately north-west of
Home Farm, which lacks the ridge and furrow
covering most of Pitchless hill. (fn. 88)

Claywell was a much more substantial settlement whose desertion in the later Middle Ages,
though apparently gradual, may have begun
with a serious onslaught of plague, since Yelford,
a mile to the south-east, was largely abandoned
in the same period. (fn. 89) In 1086 there were 10
tenants on Theoderic's Claywell manor, some
probably at Aston; in addition there were
presumably several Claywell tenants of Ducklington manor. (fn. 90) In 1279 there were 9 such
tenants, and 6 or 7 others holding of Theoderic's
successor, the abbot of Eynsham. (fn. 91) In 1306 and
1316 there were c. 14 and 17 taxpayers at Claywell, and an apparently similar number in 1327
when Claywell was assessed with Ducklington. (fn. 92)
In c. 1360 Eynsham abbey retained 6 Claywell
holdings whose rents were sharply reduced between 1403 (fn. 93) and the 1420s, when much was in
hand. (fn. 94) Whether the late 14th-century tenants
lived at Claywell is uncertain, but it may be
significant that 'fishsilver', apparently payable
by all the abbey's Claywell tenants, was more
than 25 years in arrears by 14O7. (fn. 95) In 1430
Ducklington manor's holdings at Claywell were
let at only half their earlier rent because of decays
and shortage of tenants. (fn. 96) Later in the 15th
century the abbey's estate was let at will to one
tenant; (fn. 97) he may have sublet to several others,
but from the 16th century the estate, usually
described as Claywell farm, seems to have been
a single holding. (fn. 98) Ducklington manor's land in
Claywell was presumably worked from Ducklington.

Claywell lay at the foot of a narrow valley two
miles south of Ducklington, to which it was
linked directly by the Lew-Ducklington road,
rerouted further west at inclosure. (fn. 99) Another
road, mentioned in 1306, ran from Claywell
through or beside Yelford's open fields towards
a wood, unidentified, called Weldehamho. (fn. 100)
Claywell may have had a chapel, since the
post-medieval tenants of Claywell Farm paid
rent to Ducklington church, allegedly for a
former churchyard. (fn. 101) The descent of Claywell
Farm suggests that it occupies land formerly part
of Eynsham abbey's estate, possibly a manorial
site. (fn. 102) Two closes south and south-east of the
house, however, belonged before inclosure in
1839 to Walter Strickland of Cokethorpe, who
had acquired much of the land attached to
Ducklington manor; (fn. 103) they may have contained
medieval tenements of that manor. Earthworks
indicating former buildings are particularly
marked in a close west of the house. (fn. 104) That close
and the site of the farm buildings south of the
house were Upper and Lower Paddock in 1839,
and the alleged churchyard was said to be in 'the
Paddock'. (fn. 105) A ditch east of the farm buildings
marks the line of the former Lew-Ducklington
road. (fn. 106)

Cokethorpe, which had only three or four
recorded houses in 1279, (fn. 107) remained a small
hamlet until reduced in the 18th century to an
isolated chapel in the newly created park around
Cokethorpe House. (fn. 108) No early open fields were
recorded, (fn. 109) and no clear boundaries of
Cokethorpe are discernible. There were 2 taxpayers in the hamlet in 1523-4 and 6 in 1543-4. (fn. 110)
At least 4 houses there belonged to Ducklington
manor in the early 16th century, (fn. 111) and several
shops paying rents to the manor were said to
have closed in the 1530s when pilgrimages to St.
Mary's shrine in Cokethorpe were suppressed. (fn. 112)
A few other houses in Cokethorpe belonged at
that time to other estates, (fn. 113) but no house was
mentioned in the Standlake part until one of
gentry status was built on the site of Cokethorpe
House in the later 16th century. In 1641 the
Protestation oath was sworn by 12 men and
women in the Ducklington part of Cokethorpe,
and presumably there were a few residents in
the Standlake part, notably at Cokethorpe
House, whose owner Elizabeth Stonehouse
apparently did not take the oath but was assessed
for tax there in that year. (fn. 114) In 1662 at least four
Cokethorpe houses were assessed for hearth tax
in Ducklington and the 14-hearth Cokethorpe
House and at least one other in Standlake. (fn. 115)

Although some houses seem to have been
removed when Sir Simon, later Viscount, Harcourt took over Cokethorpe House c. 1710 others
survived near the chapel and road until the park
was extended some time after his death in 1727. (fn. 116)
No local wills of Cokethorpe inhabitants survive
after the 1720s, and by the 1760s the chapel
stood isolated in the park. (fn. 117) Peripheral lodges
were added later and Cokethorpe Park's 19thcentury population, still divided between
Standlake and Ducklington parishes, was usually more than 25. On census day in 1851, when
the owner's family and guests numbered 5, there
were 12 living-in servants and c. 25 other residents
in lodges and cottages in the park; in 1881, when
the family was absent, there were still over 20
residents in the house and park. (fn. 118)

Visible remains of the former hamlet are few,
although possible house sites have been noted
just within the park south of the chapel; in 1601
Hardwick's open fields in that area abutted
'Cokethorpe town's end'. (fn. 119) Earthworks immediately east of the chapel and evidently within the
former churchyard mark the site of a building
of unknown date and function. (fn. 120) A waterlogged
hollow further east may be the site of a holy
well remembered in the early 18th century. (fn. 121)
A rectangular enclosure revealed by cropmarks
c. 120 m. north of the chapel may be prehistoric. (fn. 122)

Ducklington village lies in the north-east corner of the parish on the Standlake-Witney road
and very close to the river Windrush. Its early
nucleus was presumably near the church, and it
is likely that Church Street, leading towards
Witney, was the site of early houses; by the early
11th century there was a mill on the Windrush
at the end of the lane leading north from the
Square. (fn. 123) The medieval manor house, demolished before 1430, probably stood north of the
church in the field, once Court close, partly
occupied by the modern graveyard. A later
manor house, built in the 17th century and
demolished in the 18th, stood on the south side
of Church Street on a site which until modern
times was a paddock called Manor close. (fn. 124) The
Old Rectory, in large grounds south of the
church, incorporates medieval timbers and is
presumably on the site of the medieval rectory
house. (fn. 125) A high cross, presumably medieval,
survived in the 17th century near a place or lane
called Trumpenys, (fn. 126) probably a corruption of
the Ducklington surname Turnpenny; it was
perhaps in the Square.

By the earlier 19th century the main built area
was around Church Street and the Square but
also stretched north-eastwards along Witney
Road almost to its junction with Curbridge
Road; older houses survive throughout that area.
Further along the Witney road a separate group
of cottages, of which the earliest may be of the
late 17th century, was called Little Ducklington
by the early 19th century; (fn. 127) Chalcroft common,
separating the cottages from the main village,
was later sometimes called the green and in 1995
included a childrens' recreation area. (fn. 128) By the
early 19th century another distinct group of
cottages stood on the Standlake road south-east
of the village at Ducklington mill, the latter
probably the New mill of 1279. (fn. 129)

Within the village the distribution and orientation of surviving older buildings suggests that
the main Standlake-Witney road in earlier times
ran along Church Street, perhaps entering the
village on a line east of the Old Rectory: no older
houses face on to the section of Standlake Road
running north-west from the Old Rectory, and
its south-west side abutted the open fields; it was
presumably a back lane until becoming the
preferred through route. One effect of its increased importance was to define, at the point
where the road to Aston left the village, a
triangular green, which thereafter perhaps
shifted the focus of the village. With its large
pond (called Pitch pond in 1831) (fn. 130) overlooked by
a distinguished church, it was seen to typify the
'breadth of rurality' for which Ducklington was
noted. (fn. 131) The National school of 1857 was built
to face the green; until the 1990s an oak tree
planted in 1902 to mark the coronation of Edward
VII stood at its centre; (fn. 132) and it was chosen as the
site of the village war memorial.

The older buildings in the village are almost
all of coursed or uncoursed limestone rubble,
and many of the 17th-century cottages are
single-storeyed with attics, thatched, sometimes
gabled, and built on a 2- or 3-unit plan presumably
typical of a village which in the 1660s was
composed largely of houses taxed on one or two
hearths. (fn. 133) Examples of such houses are the early
17th-century Windrush Cottage, which retains
ovolo-moulded wood-mullioned windows,
Church Farm, possibly of the late 16th century,
with stone-mullioned windows and a through
passage, the Bell inn and the Strickland Arms,
both much altered but 17th-century in origin,
and several cottages on Witney Road (nos. 27,
29, and 31). Similar thatched houses, but of two
storeys, are the late 17th-century Old Bakehouse
and two houses at Little Ducklington (nos. 61
and 63 Witney Road). Most of the 17th-century
houses have stop-chamfered beams and chamfered bressumers; several have projecting bread
ovens, and there are winder stairs at Church
Farm and no. 29 Witney Road. Many older
houses in the village were stone-slated, although
in modern times many have been reroofed with
concrete tiles. Larger 17th-century farmhouses
included Manor Farm, (fn. 134) Lynden House in
Church Street, dated 1661, and Ducklington
Farm in Church Street, where a garden wall has
a datestone of 1682 with the initials IMV,
perhaps for Martin and Ursula Johnson. (fn. 135) Lynden House, of two storeys with attics, retains
chamfered beams and has a gabled central stair
turret; Ducklington Farm, though also retaining
some 17th-century features, was refaced and
extended at the rear in the early 19th century.
Both houses have been almost entirely refenestrated in the 20th century, in common with
many of the other older houses in the village.

Several houses have 18th-century extensions,
but there are no larger houses of that period.
The principal 18th-century house, the Great
House, near no. 14 Witney Road, was demolished c. 1840. (fn. 136) Two 19th-century houses of some
pretension are the Manor House and Yew Tree
Farm. The former, called Ducklington House
until renamed in the late 19th century, is an early
19th-century remodelling and extension of a
probably 18th-century farmhouse. It was built
for Thomas Lee (d. 1863), a solicitor and local
landowner. (fn. 137) The house was vacant for many
years before its purchase in 1886 by Gerard
Waefelaer, a retired sea captain, who until his
death in 1912 fulfilled the role of resident squire
with 'liberality'. (fn. 138) Yew Tree Farm was rebuilt
as a gentleman's residence, probably in the
1860s, by J. S. Beaumont: it has a symmetrical
5-bayed front in the Italianate style, with a
central porch supported on Tuscan columns; the
land fronting the house on the opposite side of
Standlake Road was planted as a park. (fn. 139) Outside
the village large farmhouses built after inclosure
in 1839 were Coursehill Farm and Home Farm,
Cokethorpe, and Barley Park Farm was rebuilt. (fn. 140)

Institutional buildings, besides the school,
were the Baptist chapel of 1868, (fn. 141) a parish room,
established in the former tithe barn c. 1930 and
much rebuilt as a village hall in 1975, (fn. 142) and a
new school of 1962. (fn. 143) Since the Second World
War, and particularly from the 1970s, large
numbers of houses have been built, some on
large estates south and west of the Standlake-
Witney road, others lining that road, and many
in former farmyards and gardens in the village.
Many old houses and barns have been converted
or rebuilt. In the 1960s a large sewage plant was
established in the north of the parish.

The hamlet of Hardwick lies in the south-east
of the parish on the bank of the river Windrush,
connected by minor lanes with the StandlakeWitney road. Its houses line a single street which
in the 19th century, when called High Street, (fn. 144)
ran south from the mill to the common. South
of the hamlet, in early inclosures lining the
western edge of the common, were a few cottages
and Manor Farm. (fn. 145) A manorial park, mentioned
in the early 17th century when its fences were
the responsibility of Hardwick tenants, (fn. 146) was
perhaps one of the closes adjacent to the hamlet.
From the later 19th century some older houses
and several farm buildings were demolished, and
the bypass of 1974-5 isolated Manor Farm from
the hamlet. (fn. 147) The surviving older houses are of
coursed limestone rubble, some with stone slate
roofs. Several have brick arched windows inserted during later 19th-century restoration.
The larger houses are Hardwick Mill (fn. 148) and
Manor Farm, the latter a much altered house of
the 18th century, with a taller early 19th-century
extension.

The Strickland Arms in Ducklington was established under that name by 1839, and the Bell
seems to have been opened slightly later, certainly
by 1846. (fn. 149) In the mid 18th century there were
sometimes three, but usually two, licensed
houses in Ducklington, the Ball and the
Chequers. The Chequers seems to have closed
in the 1770s but the Ball survived into the 19th
century and was perhaps the later Strickland
Arms. (fn. 150) A short-lived alehouse in Little Ducklington was mentioned in 1864. (fn. 151) In Hardwick a
victualler was licensed in 1753 but no alehouse
was mentioned thereafter until the 1840s when
the Angel was opened in a house owned by
Thomas Lee, acquired in 1860 by Walter Strickland; it survived into the 1960s. (fn. 152)

An 'Easter custom', which included the charitable distribution of pies but was evidently also
the occasion for traditional festivity, died out in
the 19th century. (fn. 153) Whitsun celebrations in
Ducklington in the early 19th century included
a maypole, and villagers were involved in the
annual Whitsun hunt in Wychwood forest. The
morris tradition in Ducklington died out in the
later 19th century. (fn. 154) Celebration of the village
feast on St. Bartholomew's day (24 Aug.) included, in the late 19th century, the setting up
of stalls, and a small fair continued to be held in
the early 20th century. (fn. 155) Most formal village
entertainment in the 19th century was associated
with the church and school, or was provided by
the owners of Cokethorpe Park. (fn. 156) There were
the usual sporting clubs, cricket being particularly encouraged by the rector; Ducklington and
Cokethorpe had separate clubs. (fn. 157) A Penny Bank
established c. 1872 and a parish library, started
by the rector in 1873, survived through the
century. A reading room was established in a
cottage in the 1880s. (fn. 158) When the parish room
opened c. 1930 a Reading Room club associated
with it was largely a social club which co-ordinated
the use of the room for village activities. (fn. 159)

In 1398 a riotous assembly met at Cokethorpe
and marched on Bampton. (fn. 160) Ducklington
suffered more prolonged disruption in the 1640s
when its location on the strategically important
route over Newbridge brought it into daily
contact with troops of both factions. (fn. 161)
Cokethorpe Park as the principal residence of
Simon Harcourt, Viscount Harcourt, was for
several years after his loss of office in 1714 a
gathering place for some of the chief literati of
the day. (fn. 162)

Ducklington's natives included the prominent
early 14th-century mayor of Oxford, John of
Ducklington, (fn. 163) and the broadcaster Mollie Harris (d. 1995), known for her performance as
Martha Woodford in the B.B.C. radio series
'The Archers'.

10. C.O.S., PRN 3982, 3955 where it is suggested that the
earthwork, which existed in 1767 (Jefferys, Oxon. Map), was
dug to supply the adjacent icehouse. Its protrusion into
open-field arable makes that less likely.

44. A line north of the chapel shown in Oxf. Arch. Unit,
Gill Mill Farm Assessment 1988, fig. 1 (copy in C.O.S.,
PRN 11636) may be that of an avenue laid out in the early
18th cent.: below, manors (Cokethorpe).